4 ms·

Iron and lithium corrode and rust away exposed to air. There wouldn't be any iron nor lithium artifacts thousands of years old.

h2odragon 3y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_pillar_of_Delhi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_pillar_of_Delhi
eesmith 3y ago
We have iron artifacts which are thousands of years old. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Age https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Age says "The earliest-known meteoric iron artifacts are nine small beads dated to 3200 BC, which were found in burials at Gerzeh, Lower Egypt, having been shaped by careful hammering." That's 5,000 years old. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaca_H%C3%B6y%C3%BCk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaca_H%C3%B6y%C3%BCk shows "Dagger with iron blade and golden hilt from Alaca Höyük. Early evidence for the use of iron in Anatolia. 2500-2400 BC." You can see the iron is heavily rusted, but clearly present over 4,000 years later." https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10814-019-09129-6 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10814-019-09129-6 says "Larger numbers of iron artifacts, too many to list individually, appeared in the second millennium BC. Waldbaum (1978, 1980, 1999) produced several early syntheses of available references to iron in the Bronze Age Mediterranean and parts of the Near East, totaling about 150 artifacts. The majority of these come from the Late Bronze Age (c. 1600–1200 BC)." These are over 3,000 year old. Even if iron could not be found, where are the furnaces, tuyeres, and slag which are part of iron production?
Retric 3y ago
Tutankhamun's meteoric iron dagger is ~3,350 years old and shows minimal degradation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutankhamun's_meteoric_iron_dagger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutankhamun's_meteoric_iron_da... Egypt is a wonderful place to preserve iron, but archaeologists would hardly ignore piles of rust that kept showing up.
wl 3y ago
Ancient iron production leaves behind bloomeries. And in places like Egypt that are so dry, ancient iron (including meteoric iron predating smelting) does survive pretty well.

h2odragon 3y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_pillar_of_Delhi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_pillar_of_Delhi

eesmith 3y ago

We have iron artifacts which are thousands of years old. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Age https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Age says "The earliest-known meteoric iron artifacts are nine small beads dated to 3200 BC, which were found in burials at Gerzeh, Lower Egypt, having been shaped by careful hammering." That's 5,000 years old. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaca_H%C3%B6y%C3%BCk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaca_H%C3%B6y%C3%BCk shows "Dagger with iron blade and golden hilt from Alaca Höyük. Early evidence for the use of iron in Anatolia. 2500-2400 BC." You can see the iron is heavily rusted, but clearly present over 4,000 years later." https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10814-019-09129-6 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10814-019-09129-6 says "Larger numbers of iron artifacts, too many to list individually, appeared in the second millennium BC. Waldbaum (1978, 1980, 1999) produced several early syntheses of available references to iron in the Bronze Age Mediterranean and parts of the Near East, totaling about 150 artifacts. The majority of these come from the Late Bronze Age (c. 1600–1200 BC)." These are over 3,000 year old. Even if iron could not be found, where are the furnaces, tuyeres, and slag which are part of iron production?

Retric 3y ago

Tutankhamun's meteoric iron dagger is ~3,350 years old and shows minimal degradation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutankhamun's_meteoric_iron_dagger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutankhamun's_meteoric_iron_da... Egypt is a wonderful place to preserve iron, but archaeologists would hardly ignore piles of rust that kept showing up.

wl 3y ago

Ancient iron production leaves behind bloomeries. And in places like Egypt that are so dry, ancient iron (including meteoric iron predating smelting) does survive pretty well.